Vesta's Heartburn
by Hitsuji Kinno
Summary: Maybe that Mars's Lunch Special was a bit too much... but if Sailor Vesta doesn't go to training her sisters are going to laugh at her. One shot.


I will not be naming "Chibiusa" "Usa" in this fic--she already has a name, "Small Lady" which will become Lady when she's older. "Lady Serenity".

Who is the eldest, etc comes from the Materials Collection. (Third in the light collection.)

Fugu is blowfish sushi. People can die of it if it's not sliced properly.

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It was something between the fugu, the spicy tuna rolls and the all you can eat buffet that had Vesta's stomach rumbling in protest. Despite her young age, she could feel the acid flux up her esophagus just below her breast bone. She had heartburn. And it was killing her.

She normally didn't really eat all that much--her fat older sister Pallas usually secretly ate more than she did by stuffing in candy and cakes. However, Vesta couldn't resist Sailor Mars's invitation on what Mars called her "Lunch Special." Sailor Vesta had always deeply respected Sailor Mars. Besides, Sailor Mars's taste in food was always excellent compared to the boring stuff her sisters liked to eat. The sight of spicy and tingly food excited her. She disliked the plain taste of rice, dried squid, and especially canned asparagus. But her sisters never understood--Ceres always wanted something that looked elegant but wasn't edible, Juno always wanted something cheap which usually meant train meals and convenience store meals because she was always on her bike, and Pallas always wanted something sweet which made her and Small lady get along well.

Considering that this punishment wasn't that bad. It would just take a bit of time for her body to adjust.

Vesta stared at the ceiling pounding her chest a little. The medicine she'd took hadn't helped and she had training in an hour. Her sisters would laugh at her if she didn't show up on time. Vesta shifted in her bed.

A soft knock sounded against her front chamber door.

"Training is starting--are you feeling alright?"

Vesta suppressed a burp and said, "Yes, I'll be there."

She was sure it was an hour from now.

"There you are! Pallas was worried..." Pallas said.

Vesta looked around the room. The room looked empty to her. There were no cameras in the private bedrooms.

"Up here! Pallas is up here."

Vesta half-lidded her eyes. Her sister was hanging from the rafters. It was something that always got them scolded.

"Oh."

Pallas did a back flip half twist before landing neatly on her feet. That was a move Ceres often did, but Pallas was no less adept at it from having to land neatly from falling off of balancing balls. That was about as talented as her older sister got.

"Your tummy hurt?" Pallas asked.

"No," Vesta said.

"Pallas saw you hold your tummy."

If there was one thing that Vesta did not want her sister to do was to try to cure her. She'd seen too many times what she did to dolls with toothaches or broken arms. She would completely remove the offending part.

"Uhh.. it did hurt, but I'm fine now, let's go to training."

"Ohh... Pallas get to have fun!"

They both transformed and ran down the hallway until they spotted some guards who gave them disapproving stares. Sailor Vesta whistled and put her head up into the air.

Her stomach protested. She tried not to double over in pain. It wasn't just heartburn now, it was her whole stomach. When was that damned medicine going to kick in.

A strict Neo-Queen Serenity was going to supervise their training today. Small Lady hadn't transformed yet when Sailor Vesta arrived.

"I can't train today--mama said I have to watch because everyone needs to work together in a more difficult situation."

Sailor Vesta folded her hands back. Cake. They'd been able to handle the training so far and it was easy. Sure they relied a little more on physical attacks more than they should, but that was only because they were used to being in the circus. Plus they weren't foolish enough to think that any old magical attack would work after fighting the guardians of the palace before.

Saturn was going to also watch from the training window.

The hologram simulation started. Sailor Ceres smiled with dignity. She smoothed down her sailor uniform and tossed back the tails of of her hair. Sailor Vesta was going to definitely beat her out in the next competition. No old hag with skin like hers deserved to be so haughty. Sailor Juno also looked like she was ready for a challenge. Vesta exchanged looks with that sister as well. Juno was going to accept the challenge. Sailor Pallas couldn't be discounted. She was crying right now over a papercut in her finger, but Sailor Vesta had learned after a month of training that Sailor Pallas was fearsome on the battlefield, and even double-faced calculating.

"You must work as a team to reach the goal. Points will be deducted if you leave anyone behind," Saturn announced through the com.

"This is not a race," Neo-Queen Serenity emphasized.

Sailor Vesta suppressed the feeling of acid in her throat. She burped silently. This was going to be hard.

The room began to shake and move. The hologram simulation was of old Tokyo before Crystal Tokyo was constructed. This was a place they knew well.

"It's an Earthquake scenario," Sailor Ceres said.

"So the objective is to rescue people from it? What about the magical enemies?" Sailor Juno asked.

"Pallas doesn't understand."

"You don't have to," Sailor Vesta said dryly trying to keep her stomach from feeling like it was going to hurl.

Vesta paused. It was getting worse. Alright maybe not chewing that fugu properly. She could have also gotten poisoned. She hadn't considered that.

"Do not be distracted" Ceres said throwing back her hair and steadying herself."

Vesta could feel her stomach rumble, but continued to run after them. Pallas was lagging behind as usual. They split up and looked for possible victims. Vesta knew they were also going to be tested on powers, so she used her flame powers to burn away a fallen pipe on a child's foot. They regrouped and then ran for the finish line. Vesta's stomach wasn't doing well with the running and the room shaking. The modifications that Pluto had recently made to the hologram matrix to make a more convincing feel of gravity were working, but not in Vesta's favor. The child was damned heavy on her back, and her stomach was feeling ten times worse than before. What was worse was that Pallas fell down. Vesta heavily suspected her eldest sister of doing it on purpose so she didn't have to run.

The child was crying loudly and a bit too convincingly in Vesta's ear. She wanted to snap at the child to shut up, but knew points would be deducted for it. Sailor Pallas recovered with Sailor Juno's help.

The ground began to crumble underneath them. Vesta made it to the finish line. They had all made it in time.

Saturn, Small Lady and Neo-Queen Serenity clapped. They'd come down from the observation booth.

The weight of the false brat disappeared off of Vesta's back.

"Good job."

"You did well individually and were able to cover a lot of ground, but you still made the same basic mistake. As we discussed, you do need to work together, even in an emergency situation like that. You should have split into two groups instead of four individual ones, this way if you get into trouble, you partner can call for help--it might seem inefficient, but it will be better," Saturn said looking at the data.

The black-haired Senshi smiled at them. Despite the criticism Vesta knew they had done well.

Neo-Queen Serenity was going to add her comments when she looked at Sailor Vesta.

"You don't look well--" Neo-Queen Serenity started.

That's when Vesta couldn't fight it anymore. The feeling welled up in her throat. She tried to choke it back. Neo-Queen Serenity approached to feel her forehead. Vesta tried to push her back, but it was too late. She threw up all over Neo-Queen Serenity's dress.

As much as Vesta admired Sailor Mars that was the last time Vesta went on a lunch special with Sailor Mars again. She wished she hadn't gone to training at all. It was better than this humiliation. She was the talk of rumors for weeks and her sisters never let her live it down.

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Like it hate it, I want reviews with some content. Tell me what you liked or disliked about the story, and most importantly why. Critique Tolerance 10 (burn me like a witch). Thank you.


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